Zoë's Dublin Diary: Stinging Fly, Walking Dead, Block Party, and More

The Stinging Fly‘s summer 2016 issue arrived in post boxes the other week, and features new fiction from Nicole Flattery, Liz Gallagher, Wendy Erskine and more, an interview of Michael McCormack by Ian Maleney, and reviews of Olivia Laing, Matthew Sweeney and Derek Mahon. This Wednesday will see its launch, with readings from Wendy Erskine, Roisin Kelly, Patrick O’Flaherty and Dave Tynan. Details here.

Over Our Heads the Hollow Seas Closed Up is a collection of new works by Irish painter Brian Maguire, in which he extends his sociopolitical focus, which began during the Troubles, to exploring migration, borders and displacement. His sensitivity to his subjects sets him apart, having worked in prisons, asylums and shelters, and he has shown a committed and immersive approach throughout. The title for this new body of work comes from Primo Levi’s If This Be a Man, itself a quote from Dante’s “Inferno”. The significance, here, is displacement and unrest, and a concern with storytelling and narrative rather than voyeurism – a difficult line to walk. Maguire’s sources are photographic, impactful in their contrast of aesthetic and subject matter. Details here.

Alt Event Labs have knocked together a voting app that will allow an entire audience to direct the action of the much-loved Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead– the emotionally fraught point-and-click video game based on Robert Kirkman’s zombie apocalypse comic-book series. Audiences are invited to bring their smart phones. After booking your ticket, you’ll receive a link and login details to access the voting app, allowing you to chip in when characters are presented with a choice. Details here and here.

Five artists were invited to consider Ireland’s tumultuous year, amidst increased radicalisation in social-change movements for abortion rights and housing, a hung Dáil and ongoing crises in healthcare, homelessness and unemployment. In their response, they explore female solidarity in the face of injustice and disappointment, through the solidarity and warmth they have for one another. Work comes from Michelle Browne, Avril Corroon, Ella de Búrca and Lisamarie Johnson, and Vaari Claffey and Mason Leaver Yap under the moniker of Laugh a Defiance, a project conceived out of Jesse Jones’s No More Fun and Games that uses the euphoric and absurd power of laughter to activate agency. Details here.

The two-day Dublin City Block Party sees Todd Terje & The Olsens, Late Nite Tuff Guy, Jape, Get Down Edits, Kelly-Anne Byrne and Nialler9 & Stevie G performing an all-dayer on the grounds of the Tivoli Theatre. Weekend tickets are sold out, but you can still nab day passes. Details here and here.

Monday, 4 July – Irish Game Dev: Netrunner, Free, 18:30, Against the Grain

For anyone not yet in the know, Netrunner is a game of collectible cards involving two decks per player: one, a menacing cyberpunk organisation, the other a hacker or “runner”. Players use either deck to try to take down opponents, with runners trying to take the corp’s “agenda” cards by hacking into their decks, and the corporation’s attempts in turn to advance their plans while keeping their cool. Created by the same man behind Magic: The Gathering, Netrunner is an addictive mix of bluffing and obsessive deck-making, with tournaments dedicated to it worldwide. A bunch of Irish game developers will be playing in Against the Grain next Monday, with spare starter decks for newcomers. Details here.

Tuesday, 5 July – Not Necessarily Naughty, 10:00–16:00, RUA RED

The Young Curators Group of 2016 began working together in March of this year, facilitated by Andy Parsons. Sofya Mikhaylova, Nessa Finnegan, Sophie Carroll Hunt and Nicola Horner have selected artworks from voices who have yet to receive much exposure, tied together in theme by their provocative nature. Curated by: Chiara Pizza, Edana Gorham, Ellen Redmond, Karl Graham, Orla Mcgovern, Roisin White and Shauna Blanchfield. Details here.

[CORRECTION: Apologies, we got the date wrong for the Stinging Fly launch. It was 28 June, not 29 June. We’re really sorry about that. This article was updated on 29 June at 17.07.]